Chapter 7

The next morning, Ranma strolled as casually as possible into the computer lab, trying not to stare in Shayla’s direction the whole way to his regular computer. He saw her talking to another male student and had to keep his lip from curling in disgust, trying to keep his step light and happy. He did manage to catch her eye and wave, receiving a sunny smile in return.

He quickly read his email and groaned in response to his history professor’s email about his term paper being due a week earlier due to "prior committments". ‘Yeah, right,’ he thought glumly, not even noticing Nathan sitting at the computer next to him.

"Hey, why the long face? I’d think you’d be happier after last night," Nathan said, giving him a wink and a lacivious grin.

"What? Hey, it wasn’t like that at all!" Ranma protested, careful not to be overheard by Shayla a couple of rows away. He watched her walk back to her desk, admiring the way the t-shirt, v-neck sweater and jeans fit her. She sat at her computer and began searching for the pencil she had stuck behind one ear, prompting a grin from Ranma.

"So then next week they’re going to put the college president in a capsule and shoot him off to the moon, so we’ll never have to see him again."

"What?" Ranma asked, looking at Nathan again.

"You are so not listening to a word I’m saying."

"I am too," Ranma said sheepishly, realizing he had not heard a single word Nathan had said in the past couple of minutes.

"Thought so. So, how’d it go last night?"

"It was wonderful," Ranma began as he related last night’s events.

"Didn’t get lucky, huh?" Nathan lamented.

"Lucky?"

"You know, luuu-cky."

Ranma thought for a minute and said, "Oh."

**

That afternoon, after guiding his clumsy but improving students through another round of Kempo instruction, he ran afoul of Nick.

"So, Saotome, who said you could go out with Shayla?" he said belligerently. He was standing in front of Ranma’s locker, arms crossed in front of his chest and feet wide apart.

Inwardly rolling his eyes, Ranma scowled at him and said, "I don’t believe I had to have permission. You don’t own Shayla."

"You’re right, I don’t." He uncrossed his arms and took a step forward. "But that still doesn’t mean that you can go out with her, sensei." He spat the last word out, filling it with sarcasm and indicating what he thought of Ranma’s teaching skills.

Ranma was tense, realizing he hadn’t felt like this since the last time he faced down Kuno back in Nerima. He concentrated on his breathing, trying to remain calm and in control. It was one thing for this jerk to try to tell him he had no right to date with Shay-chan, but for insulting his teaching skills, well he had a special Amiguriken tucked away for him. Taking a deep breath Ranma said, "You know what Nick, I don’t like to brawl. It’s dishonorable. Why don’t we go into the gym and settle this like real martial artists, ne?" Not waiting for an answer, he turned his back and walked away. That had been the hardest technique to master, walking away.

After a few steps, he heard Nick snort and start to follow. Outside, he saw Shayla standing by the locker room exit, waiting for him as usual. She looked surprised to see him stil in his gi, and threw him a questioning look when she saw Nick, similarly attired, following him. Seeing her look, Ranma just shook his head.

"Hey, Shayla!" Nick called out. "Wanna come to the gym and watch me clean the floor with your Japanese lover-boy?"

"Nick, you’re such a damn idiot! I guess you’re one of those guys who likes getting the shit kicked out of you, huh?" she answered back, scathingly. The trio entered the gym, followed by a band of curious onlookers, making Ranma feel just like he was at home.

They faced each other on the wooden floor, Ranma standing calmly, waiting for Nick to make the first move, as he knew he would. True to form, Nick came at him in a rush, trying to catch him off guard. Ranma simply sidestepped and allowed Nick to run past, much like he had with Akane when they first met. Nick came at him again, and, feeling cocky and loose from the class, Ranma executed a number of arial moves, dancing around the wildly rushing form of the other martial artist, never seeming to be on the ground for more than a few seconds.

After a few minutes, Ranma could see that he was not simply going to tire Nick out, he was in too good of shape and was starting to adjust to Ranma’s arial moves, so he began to throw punches at him. Light taps at first, just to annoy him and make him lose more control, but soon harder and harder, until he could hear Nick grunt when he connected.

He was so sure of himself, that he was surprised when the felt Nick’s fist connect with his ribs and gave a grunt of surprise and sprang back, seeing Nick smile in triumph. "Hah, American boys not so soft, huh?" he growled with an ugly grin.

"Time for your nap, asshole. Kachu Tenshin Amiguriken!" Ranma shouted, unleashing an amazing flurry of punches into Nick’s body that left the onlookers speechless. When he stopped, Nick stood unsteadily in place and slowly, like a large tree, fell over on his face and lay motionless.

"Timber," Shayla said as she walked up to Ranma. "Hey, are you okay? He got you a pretty good one in the ribs there."

"It’s nothing," Ranma assured her, amused at her total disregard for the unconscious ex-boyfriend laying on the floor. He saw a couple of his students standing in the crowd and assigned them the task of getting Nick to the nurse’s station. Catching a whiff of himself, he wrinkled his nose. "Let me get a shower and we’ll go get something to eat, okay?"